Chapter 3 - THE FIRST-BORN SHADOW
The plastic receiver felt incredibly heavy in Diego’s hand. The buzzing of the fluorescent lights suddenly sounded deafening.
“You’re lying,” Diego said, his voice dropping an octave, losing its professional warmth entirely. “My parents were married for thirty-five years. My father loved my mother.”
“He loved her structure,” Brenda corrected sharply, her eyes gleaming with triumph. “He loved the respectability she brought to his name in San Miguel.”
“But before he ever met Teresa, when he was just a young engineer working the silver lines in Zacatecas, he had a woman. A real woman.”
“Her name was Sofia. And she gave him a boy.”
Diego’s mind raced, searching through old family photos, holiday dinners, late-night conversations with his father. There was nothing. Not a single clue.
“If this brother exists, where has he been for thirty-two years?” Diego demanded.
“In the mud,” Brenda replied coldly. “Your father paid Sofia to stay away. He bought her silence so he could build his perfect bourgeois life with your mother.”
“But the boy grew up. His name is Mateo. And unlike you, Diego, Mateo didn’t go to a fancy law school in Mexico City. He grew up angry. He grew up hungry.”
“Alejandro kept track of him. Before he died, guilt finally broke your father down. He rewrote his legacy. He left the hidden gold to Mateo, but he gave me the location because he knew your mother would never allow a bastard to touch the Mendoza name.”
Diego leaned forward, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the phone. “Where is he now?”
“He’s looking for the gold, Diego,” Brenda whispered, a malicious grin spreading across her face. “And he knows about you. He knows about your mother.”
“He blames Teresa for his mother’s poverty. He thinks your mother stole the life he was supposed to have.”
“I have the coordinates of the vault. I have the security codes. And I am willing to share them with you, lawyer.”
“Why would you help me?” Diego asked, his suspicion reaching a boiling point. “You hate me. You tried to ruin my family.”
Brenda’s eyes turned cold as ice. “Because Mateo came to see me last week. He didn’t offer to help me get out. He threatened to kill me if I didn’t give him the codes.”
“If I’m going to stay in this hellhole, I want the Mendoza family to tear itself apart from the inside. I want you and your precious brother to destroy each other.”
“Get me a reduced sentence, Diego. Get me moved to a minimum-security facility in the south, and I’ll give you the coordinates before Mateo finds your mother.”
The guard tapped heavily on the glass door behind Brenda. “Time’s up, Salazar.”
Brenda slowly stood up, her chains rattling. She didn’t look away from Diego as she lowered the phone.
May you like
Through the glass, her lips moved silently, forming three words that sent a shiver straight down Diego's spine:
“Protect your mother.”
